SARASOTA, FL.- Before television, radio, film and the Internet, the circus was America’s colossal entertainment industry. Circus owners enticed massive crowds with brilliantly colored, boldly bombastic posters that advertised never seen before attractions, performers and animals from all corners of the globe, including Jumbo the Elephant and Gargantua The Great, as well as new innovations such as the automobile and electrical lights. The Amazing American Circus Poster: The Strobridge Lithographing Company, 1878-1939 showcases the cultural influence of the circus on America in a special exhibition at The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Fla., that runs through January 29, 2012. The works exhibited span from the time of P.T. Barnum’s greatest show on earth to the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey